Accelerating Universe

Date: July 30, 2010
Venue: The Pedicab, San Antonio TX
Bands: Aggravator, Bastardwolf, Hexlust, Insinnerator, Vektor

PRE-SHOW
In two years of playing gigs in San Antonio, we had never before heard of this place called the Pedicab. Never seen it on a flier, or heard of other bands playing there, not even a mention in conversations with other headbangers about cool places to play around here, and that made us a little bit nervous. It meant this place was either a hidden gem or total shitsville when it came to hosting live shows.

It turns out the place was a kind of bar and grill establishment which had a stage and PA perfect for live performances... of small, not-metal acts. Like, if the Violent Femmes came through San Antonio, this place would be perfect for them. The stage itself was definitely one of the smallest stages we've played on in our time of live gigging, I think even tinier than the one at Headhunters. The PA included one mic for vocals, a kick mic, and I think even a snare mic, plus a monitor at the back of the stage, which I did appreciate.

So, on to the load-in. We parked across the street, where a free public parking lot was set up in a grassy area. The Pedicab itself is located at the top of a long uphill driveway, with few parking spots (already taken) and some picnic tables set up just outside the place, forming the bar's outdoor dining area. Direct entry to the bar is accessed by either a small staircase or a long handicap ramp, and facilitated through a small door. The stage is located at the far back wall, way on the other side of the restaurant, so once equipment is brought through the front door, it must then be dragged around and even through a group of tables and chairs before finally being set up.

What all this lead up to was us lugging amps, guitars, drums, and stands across the street, up the drive, up the stairs/ramp, and through the tiny door. We weren't the first band so getting it across the room would come later. Of course, we could have just driven our vehicles up the driveway, parked temporarily in front of the place, and loaded in from there. We didn't think of this at the time because we're stupid that way.

This is us. EVERY DAY.

AGGRAVATOR/BASTARDWOLF
Aggravator were playing as we got there, so unfortunately I won't have much of anything to say about them this evening. Bastardwolf took the stage as I was setting up my kit outside the Pedicab, so once again I was to only listen to this great band play their oddly endearing mix of thrash, doom, and sludge. To this day I have no idea what those guys actually look like or how they perform; I have just the music, the megaton rhythms, the occasional duel harmonies, the madman vocals, the singable riffs. One of these days Hexlust and Bastardwolf are going to play a bill and have a band between us so I can finally put an image to the sounds in my head, granting me complete appreciation for these guys.

HEXLUST
From the moment we started playing, I knew this wasn't going to be a solid gold gig. On the surface everything was perfectly fine: all the gear was in place, the tunes started at a and ended at b, and the audience was responsive and mobile. But underneath it all, within ourselves, something was off. Maybe our annoyance from the obstacle-course load-in was taking its toll on our stage mindset; could also be that the time taken to get here and set up gear left very little space in the schedule for warming up; hell, maybe it was just time for an off-night. 2010 had up to this point been an almost flawless year for Hexlust performances, so we were probably just due for an underwhelming set to uphold the balance of the universe or some such mystical shit I don't understand.

Despite the pervasive feeling of mediocrity, as I said before, the songs themselves started and ended on the same note, with very few hiccups, and with positive, active audience response. At one point, however, we ran into an actual crisis that threatened to tear the whole thing down and bring about the much-dreaded event of a band stopping a song due to confusion and unfixable fuckuppery. In the middle of "Baphomet Dawn," during Tarzan's vocal part, he got lost.

From what I can understand, he had been running on auto-pilot, as the rest of us were by this point, and had mysteriously come back to consciousness mid-sentence, with no actual clue what he was supposed to be singing or playing. The vocals and riff meandered, waking the rest of us up and causing one of the guitarists (I forget who) to get off-track as well. I dug in and started counting out loud, knowing that if I went too badly astray then we were done for. Thankfully it all smoothed back out, and with the exception of Tony getting lost in the midst of his own guitar solo just seconds later, we finished the rest of that and the remaining tunes confusion-free.

Something else that must be said. One of the more obvious sources of discontentment was the presence of only one vocal mic, which was connected to the nearby sound booth on a cord that was about four feet long. This put Tony on the far right side of the stage, which would have been fine if we hadn't already set up the amps with his pedals in the middle. Switching channels and effects, not to mention trading off vocal parts, involved an uncomfortable amount of spot-shuffling between him and Tarzan.

Now, I shit you not, here's Tarzan earlier that very day: "Hey Dart, do you think we should bring our own mics and cables, just in case?"

Here's me in response: "Nah, dude, it'll be fine."

INSINNERATOR
We missed Insinnerator when we played in Ft Worth due to an impending storm and a sense of "Man, we still have to drive three hours back to Killeen." I resolved that with this show, I would load back up as quickly as humanly possible and get back inside to catch these very able thrashers in action. Unfortunately, even with our newly-acquired sagacity in parking the vehicles in front of the venue, navigating gear across the restaurant and out the door still took more time than usual, and saying goodbye to Tony took up even more time. That's right, our fearless leader had to take off due to relationship commitments. It wouldn't have bothered me as much if he hadn't badly wanted to stay and watch Insinnerator and Vektor, but I guess that's the cost of devoting oneself to another. (EDIT FROM THE FUTURE: I feel secure in including that thought as that relationship has since ended.)

I made it back inside to catch maybe the last two songs of Insinnerator's set. Very energetic, nonstop speed, and a constantly moshing crowd. Chris Atomic Thrasher is a monster on guitar, has bounds of energy and a huge, perpetual smile on his face, and Juan Speed more than lives up to his name on the drums. He's not a big fill guy, but tempo consistency is the name of the game in drums, and this guy does a fantastic job of keeping a constant thrash pulse going.

VEKTOR
After missing out on the majority of Vektor's set last time we played with them, I was determined to view this highly talented band's performance in its entirety. From my vantage point beside the stage, behind the PA speakers, I was able to appreciate the nuances of the players and still hear every instrument, while not getting moshed into. I envied Blake's splattering of technique across a minimalist drum kit; marveled at David and Erik's guitar wizardy, both individually and as a harmonized team; and got up-close insight into Frank's ability to switch from "traditional" root-note plucking to a more "progressive" third-guitar style.

"Forest of Legend" was the highlight of the main set. It was this tune that had the beautiful clean-guitar part I caught a glimpse of on that very cold night six months ago, and to hear that piece fit in with the rest of the wonderfully structured tune put a big stupid grin on my face that remained for the rest of the evening. The show's second highlight came after Vektor said their first goodnight; the audience wanted more, and the guys professed that the only song they had left to play was "Accelerating Universe," the album's thirteen-minute final track. The crowd was game, and thankfully so was the band, who led us through almost a quarter hour of David's most insane shrieks, a lengthy, psychedelic middle section, and that odd chorus riff that sounds like Woody Woodpecker's distinctive cackle.

POST-SHOW
We spent some time hanging out after the show, talking with audience members and the guys from Vektor, who were just as friendly and easygoing as they were last time. We couldn't dally for too long, however, as JT hadn't moved into his San Antonio digs yet and we still had a long drive home ahead of us. Our next scheduled show is more on our home turf, at the Lone Star in Temple, so I am very much looking forward to getting home at a relatively decent time. Like 2:30, as opposed to 5:00.

Metal for the Masses

Date: July 23, 2010
Venue: Music Vault, Harker Heights TX
Bands: Inbreed, Desmortes, Heavens Declare War, PainFilled Silent

PRE-SHOW
Fun show for Hexlust this evening! Not only were we at the Music Vault, where we've become accustomed to reliable sound, spacious stage, and an enthusiastic audience, but for the first time in a long while (if ever) we were booked for a local gig almost completely filled with bands in which we had friends as members! Additionally, along with our usual crowd of family and friends, we had out-of-town fans Jake, Tony, and Victor visiting to watch us play on our home turf.

Since I like the bands on this bill so much, I'm going to spend a little more time than I normally do talking about each group's background. By now we have some readers outside of the Central Texas area, so hopefully this helps gain these great bands a little more exposure.

THE ELEPHANT IN THE ROOM
At the Vault, our sound is normally serviced by sisters Elizabeth and Dorothy, supervised by their dad whose name escapes me. Elizabeth was on a trip to Washington DC at this time, and Dorothy is still pretty new to the audio-tech game, so the sound this evening was shakier in quality than usual. There were many complaints among band and audience members, but I personally didn't notice too much, so I won't really be addressing it in this post unless I absolutely have to.

INBREED
First band of the evening was Inbreed, a local thrash three-piece who have actually been rocking out in Central Texas bars and clubs since the mid 90s, have independently released five CDs, and even toured Japan and Indonesia in the early 2000s. Their admirable devotion to their day jobs has resulted in their on-again-off-again status, which explains why I had never heard of them until just before this very gig.

My first impression: absolute awe at their drums. Inbreed's skinsman played a seven-or-eight-piece black Tama kit, with four huge rack toms and two floor toms that all sounded like cannonfire when played during their soundcheck. And that's what they sounded like before the mic's picked them up and blasted them over the PA. I was one coveting bastard for a whole minute.

Overall I can't say I was too terribly enthralled by the band, their metal pedigree including the likes of Testament and Pantera. Catchy and headbang-worthy, but I was more content to stay in the backstage area and tinker with my kit. If you readers dig the more mid-tempo, groove-sprinkled kind of thrash though, I would definitely recommend checking this group out, they're simply too devoted to their music to remain as overlooked as they are.

[EDIT FROM THE FUTURE: An interview with Inbreed can be found here]

DESMORTES
I had just seen these guys in June at the Lone Star and was happy to be checking them out again. Rick and Byron of course had excellent guitar interplay, except for one song where Rick broke a string and spent the whole rest of the tune re-stringing and tuning. Hearing Byron play by himself really drove home how bare their overall sound is without a bass player. Hopefully they get the opportunity to rectify that issue soon, although I know as well as anybody how lacking the Central Texas area is in dependable metal bassists.

There was plenty of boom supplied by John, however, rocking Inbreed's thunderous drumkit (Inbreed's drummer is John's stepdad or something) with heavy, steady beats and whalloping, well-placed fills. I really want that kit! Josue was his usual smiling, Dickinson-wailing self, always having a good time at every gig I watch these guys perform.

Although I enjoy their guitar work and drumming, the only gripe I've come to have about this group is that their songs are quite lengthy and rather lacking in variation. Same tempo, same riff style, maybe the same scales but I suck at theory so I'm not sure. I think all the songs were written and arranged by Byron, though, so hopefully as they mature and write more songs they'll be able to mix up the style more.

HEXLUST
By the time we took the stage, a considerable crowd had gathered, our largest and most vocal audience hosted at the Vault since the Battle of the Bands we played here two years ago. I know it had more to do with how many of our friends and family members showed up than any kind of actually "following" being built up around here, but the support is appreciated nonetheless, especially since they were actually enjoying themselves and singing along in all the right places!

Overall, not the tightest set in our history. We were so energized and high off crowd response, we spent almost the entire set going a thousand miles an hour. As a result, vocals were occasionally out of step with the riffs, drum fills went a little overlong or seemed to stop too soon, hell Tarzan got so caught up in the rush that he went into the outro riff of "Toxic High" too early. If you watch the video, he clearly hits his final note while the rest of us are still going, haha! (warning to you seasick folks: the videos of this set are quite shaky)

Minor grievances, though, minor grievances, we were having too much fun to get caught up in them. Audience members were dancing during the verse parts of "Baphomet Dawn," and damn near the whole crowd sang along to the chorus of "Agent Orange." You could tell who had never heard the song before though, they'd still be yelling "AGENT ORANGE!" when they should have been on "the FIRE that doesn't BURN!" Maybe next time they'll have it, haha. "Tombs," of course, was probably our messiest song, we had so much momentum built up that our big finale turned into one huge blur, and mistakes were plenty. We were still smiling five minutes later when the song ended, and were patting ourselves on the back as we unloaded into the backstage area. Yet another stellar feather in the golden cap of shows we've played this year so far.

HEAVENS DECLARE WAR
Heavens Declare War have been around since like 2005, ever-popular but always going on hiatus for one reason or another. They've also had a revolving door of members pretty much since their inception, with the only constants (since I noticed them, anyway) being singer Brendon and guitarists Spanish and Randy. At one time, their bass and drum slots were filled respectively by Russell Smith and Jordan Dixon, former mainstay members of the now-defunct local death metal act I, Misery. Now they feature Shawn on bass, who was in a deathcore band called My Bitter End who apparently had an enormous following in the New York area, and Dominic, who used to play drums for JT and Tarzan's old band Nautilus. Dominic is a hellacious drummer, very Hoglan-esque in his technique and precision, and it was a load of fun watching him rock the hell out of my own kit backstage during Inbreed's soundcheck. (Also fun to note: Shawn was a co-worker of Tony's back when he was employed Acer Computers)

Musically, Heavens Declare War are hard for me to describe, as I don't normally listen to the bands which influenced them or the sub-genres they include in their own description. I guess "math metal with a progressive leaning" sums it up just about right, but I'll post up a video so you guys can draw your own conclusions. What I can say, though, is that this stuff is heavy, with breakdowns aplenty and a sweepy solo in every tune. I was never drawn into their older material but am really digging their newer songs, my favorite being the "The Secularist" with that awesome opening riff and the oh-so-shout-along-able chorus ("YOUR GOD IS DEAD TO ME!")

As good a time as I was having ingesting the tunes, watching HDW play was a bit of a chore thanks to their light show. Brendon is a skilled electrician, and while the light boxes that were set up at the front for the band members to stand on were really cool, the towers of light bulbs set up a little further upstage were annoying. They shone so powerfully in the eyes of the audience that the discomfort level toed the line of "painful," which, when you factor in how late it was, made for a grumpy, grumbling audience. Some straight-up left. Hopefully next time they play they leave at least one of the towers at home, or maybe get some lower-wattage bulbs.

PAINFILLED SILENT
I felt kinda bad for PainFilled. It was like one a.m. when they took the stage, they were facing a cranky, steadily-dwindling audience, and their unconventional song structures were winning them no new fans. I'd seen them a few times by now and thought I could hang, but even I left, conversing with friends outside and wishing they would just cut their set short so we could all collect our money and go home. Fortunately, the band have, over their many years of playing together, developed a very devoted core audience who stuck around til the very end and cheered every song.

I wasn't exaggerating when I said "many years"; though they've only been known as PainFilled Silent since 2007, Chris, Jason, Phil, and Vinnie have been performing together with no lineup changes since 1996, making this a show that was book-ended by groups of metalheads who showcase an extremely admirable devotion to their music and to each other as comrades-in-arms.

POST-SHOW
After PainFilled left the stage and packed their shit away, I met with Phil of PFS and Spanish of HDW in Rich's office to collect our earnings. Inbreed and Desmortes had all split, so the money was going three ways, which I sure wasn't arguing against. The disappointing part was that somebody on the bill had abused the bejesus out of the guest list; it was estimated that nearly fifteen people for one band had gotten in for free. I thought back to shows where I said to myself "only two people per band on the guest list? That is whack!" and now saw why such a policy was in fact totally legit.

Rich also commented that Hexlust, Heavens Declare War, and PainFilled Silent were arguably the best, highest-drawing metal bands in the Central Texas scene and that we should definitely try to arrange more shows like this in the future. Here's to doing this again! It was certainly a fun evening, hopefully next time we can cut down on the flaws and make this a completely enjoyable show for all.

[EDIT FROM THE FUTURE: As of now, early 2011, Heavens Declare War dissolved and reformed as Wake the Colossus, with a little more of an experimental kick in their sound, and are expecting to be playing live again real soon. Desmortes fell apart, and to my knowledge are not reforming anytime soon. I'm not sure what Inbreed are up to, but Hexlust and PainFilled Silent are still going strong.]

Thrashed and Detoured!

Date: July 14, 2010
Venue: The Ten Eleven, San Antonio TX
Bands: Aggravator, Culprett Kommand, Bastardwolf, Hexen, Rattlehead

PRE-SHOW
Upon arrival at the Ten Eleven, one of the first people we ran into was Mr Jake Holmes, recently-appointed San Antonio Heavy Metal Examiner and Hexlust fan. By coincidence, I had just a month prior stumbled upon his old blog "La Vida Strangiato," shot him a few Facebook messages, and was looking forward to meeting him in person. Cool dude, very enthusiastic about metal, and loves him some Meat Loaf! We also met the guys from Aggravator for the first time, particularly their front man Derek, instantly noticeable with his imposing height and Dave Mustaine hair color. He was very enthusiastic about seeing Hexlust, and this would be our first time playing with his band. There was an atmosphere of familiarity and fun in the air on this muggy July afternoon, and I was feeling optimistic from the get-go, in spite of the mosquitoes who chose the one day I decide to wear shorts to show up and attack my legs mercilessly.

CULPRETT KOMMAND
First up this evening was Culprett Kommand, a local three-piece who played a rawer, punkier form of thrash that seemed deliberately rough around the edges. The drummer loved him some Darkthrone beats, alternating sixteenth notes between the kick/hi-hat and snare, and occasionally pounded out some high-speed double-bass on his two kick drums. In spite of the rather fast drumming, the overall tempo of the songs never really blasted into balls-out speed, staying just a handful of bpm's ahead of what would be considered "mid-tempo." The guitarist/vocalist played about one solo per song, and it was just unpolished enough to be in-your-face without being sloppy. Overall, not totally to my taste, but a fine band to kick-start the evening, though they received the "opening band" audience treatment so many of us are familiar with, a handful of spectators with scattered applause. Looking at the fliers they have on their MySpace, I get the impression they would feel more at home and be more readily accepted at the more punk-influenced shows, with headliners like Vermefug.

AGGRAVATOR
Our new friends in Aggravator were up next, kicking the speed and technicality aspect up a few notches from Culprett's performance while keeping with the raw power-trio thrash subgenre. Derek makes a naturally engaging frontman, aided by the fact that he towers over his bandmates, and his guitar playing is admirable as well. His picking-hand motion starts from his wrist instead of his elbow (for some reason I find that very impressive in thrash guitarists) and his lead work wasn't half bad, though he didn't solo in every song.

What really hooked me though was the drummer, who was about as fill-happy as I am, and even integrated his toms into a few "tribal"-sounding beats. He also played open-handed, where his ride was on the same side of his kit as his hi-hat, playing it with his left hand instead of crossing over with his right. Come to think of it, that dude loved the hell out of his ride, I don't remember him once playing his hats in a beat context! It's not very often a drummer can exclusively play his ride and not have the music sound redundant. Kudos to him!

BASTARDWOLF
As I set up my drum kit outside the Ten Eleven, I could hear the third act, Bastardwolf, and was caught totally by surprise. Instead of a continuation of the old-school thrash motif set by the preceding acts, this band came out of nowhere with a heavy-centric set that, while occasionally speeding up, leaned more towards a sludgey, Southern-doom style. What was even more surprising: It didn't suck! Bands who try the blending of thrash and sludge typically just sound awkward and forced, but for this quartet it seemed to come as naturally and without forethought as aiming for the urinal cake while pissing. Although I don't know the exact origins of this group, based on their music I could see them coming together to "just jam, see what happens," and just sort of stumbling upon this wicked amalgam. I didn't get to actually see them in action, but I was content enough to bask in the tunes while warming up.

HEXLUST
With every act that played before us, the bar for intensity had been raised. We were the last of the "local talent" before the evening's headliners, and we were prepared to deliver a set that shot the intensity level into the stratosphere and give the more experienced Californian bands something to follow! I had my newly-configured drum kit with 14" floor tom set up under the rotaries; we had our kickass set list with "Agent Orange," the new cover that killed everywhere we played it so far and would be unleashed upon San Antonio for the first time tonight; best of all, we had a super-surge of confidence built up from what has so far been a year of very successful shows. Hexlust were ready to kick some ass and chew some bubble gum!

At first, it seemed we had overestimated ourselves a bit. Crowd reaction was a bit tepid following our opener "Toxic High," and I worried that this would in fact be the first stumble of the year. This already-worried state was not helped at all by a flub at the beginning of the next tune. After almost a solid year of not repeating the past mistake of drinking water after announcing a song, Tony fell off the wagon by heralding "Hellhammer" and then taking a large swig as I was counting off, resulting in no guitar riff intro. I was very much willing to just laugh it off and try again, only when I did, Tony started the riff without first shutting off the noise gate. There was more delayed silence, and I was full-on pissed. I tried to salvage the count-off, but JT and Tarzan came in before me and the whole thing was off. Thankfully, we got it together by the time we went into the second riff, played through the tune perfectly, and the crowd loved it. In fact, it was during this song that the audience started to pick up, with more intense headbanging and even moshing. This dramatic change in spectator response instantly cheered me up, though if you watch the video you'll see that I spent the whole song visibly upset, trying to figure out the right moment to impale Tony's head with my stick.

We continued with our fastest rendition of "Baphomet Dawn" yet, banging out the entire song (stingers and all) in just a little over seven minutes. Just as he did in Ft. Worth, Tony deliberately withheld the title of our new Sodom rendition, although he made the odd mistake of announcing it as a "new song." I could almost sense the disappointment in the audience when he followed that up with "it's a new cover!" The spirits picked back up when they recognized "Agent Orange," and from there it was cheering, headbanging, moshing chaos. We were pretty well worn out, the exhilaration of the evening having caused us (well, me) to forgo that whole "pace yourself" rule and give 110% from the get-go, but had just enough left in us to close out with "Tombs" and make it hands down the fastest song of the evening.

HEXEN
Time spent packing gear, eating pizza, and talking to new friends resulted in me unfortunately missing most of Hexen's set. I had watched the "State of Insurgency" video prior to this show, and was looking forward to their fast-yet-technical songs, their virtuosic lead guitarist, and the drummer who integrated timbales into his kit. It was of course my own fault that I largely missed them, I just kept saying "I'll just skip this one last song and then go in" and finally made it inside at some point towards the end. One of my expectations was met with disappointment: the drummer was sharing a kit with Rattlehead; one tom, no timbales. Weaksauce. The Coroner influence was still there, as were the awesome leads, so hey, "two out of three" and all that.

RATTLEHEAD
I surprised myself by staying for the majority of Rattlehead's set; their mid-tempo Testament-worship was not my preferred flavor of thrash, so I had planned to spend this set socializing with friends. I became hooked on the drummer, though, so while I did stay in the club, I was off to the side, where I got an uninhibited view of everything going on behind the kit. Skin-basher A.J. Stixx was the personification of that horrible cliche "poetry in motion." Whether he was grooving along or pushing the tempo, the man was relaxed and fluid, with every fill, crash, and ride transition coming out smooth, clearly not one for the sporadic, hit-or-miss spontaneity in which I often indulge. The highlight of the whole performance was the track "Bottom Shelf Shuffle," in which A.J. took a short solo and led the band through, what else, a double-bass shuffle beat. I was floored.

Before we took off, I made a point to shake A.J.'s hand and tell him how much I admired his performance. Talented drummers come and go, especially in today's metal scene where fourteen-year-olds on low-end kits can play entire Slipknot songs note for note, and move very quickly into Derek Roddy territory. Even among all this, a "drummer's drummer" will always stick out from the pack, someone who can take all that complexity, all that intensity, and make it sing, make it somehow feel more right than all the other slam-bangers. I'll probably never be a Rattlehead fan but I do hope I get another opportunity to view this man in action.

POST-SHOW
After saying goodbye to everyone and stopping by Whataburger, we set off on the arduous journey home, tonight made a little more trying than usual by flared tempers. We were all tired and very much not looking forward to the drive, and eventually this resulted in one member of the band losing his cool and verbally lashing out at another when it came time to stop for gas. Proper apologies were soon thereafter delivered and everything was cool again, but it did make me worry about how much longer we could do this whole to-and-fro with San Antonio. Thankfully, starting in August, JT will have actually moved to San Antonio, so hopefully his apartment will be able to properly accommodate us and keep our equipment safe overnight.